Page:Siam and Laos, as seen by our American missionaries (1884).pdf/310

 Siam, "to the Wat Sah Kate pagoda, situated in a vast enclosure, containing, after the usual arrangement, two or three temples, with huge gilt images of Buddha within, a large building for preaching, the dwellings of the priests and many pavilions for the use of worshipers; but the grounds were in a very dilapidated state. The king had recently turned adrift all the priests, several hundred of them, to earn an honest living by hard work, and so the wat was closed to the public." The other fact is equally hopeful—a new interest on the part of the rulers of the land in the education of the young. Until recently the Siamese kings have spent comparatively little on public works which are common to other countries of Asia—bridges, roads, schools and hospitals—but lavished their treasures on the wats. But a recent letter mentions the latest in memoriam of a Buddhist princess: "I wish much I could get you a good photograph of the new school-building, the one that is being erected to the memory of the late queen. As it approaches completion it is looking very handsome, and might be a beautiful tribute to the memory of a queen of a much more civilized country."